A very real condition which a person may be born with. "Symptoms" include lack of social skills, and difficulty reading/understanding social "cues", body language, &c, difficulty forming and maintaining friendships and relationships, and the like. However, it affects people in different ways. Some (such as me) may well "grow out" of it, and ultimately the "disorder" becomes less obvious in the social environment, in which case it's best described as a retardation of social development. However, others fare less well and suffer lifelong problems as a result of the condition.

Other characteristics may include higher than average intelligence and vocabulary, and ultimately a tendency to see the world a different way, which can be scary to some neurotypicals.

It's a difference I have had to cope with all my life, having been diagnosed at the age of 7 and has caused me real difficulties in life (and to a certain degree, still does). I am not the only one it causes real difficulty to; indeed there is growing awareness of the problems faced by people with autistic-spectrum disorders, however some people seem to think the disorder is somehow "fake" or "not real" (I refer of course to some of the other definitions posted on here).

However, this does not bother me, rather it amuses me that a group of fat, comfortable individuals with time on their hands to spend posting ill-informed, pig-ignorant, and sometimes downright illiterate definitions on UD seem to think that their opinion somehow matters more than that of the world's smartest and most experienced people in the field of psychiatry.

I have Asperger Syndrome. This does not make me better than you, nor does it make me worse. It just makes me different. I am a person, not a puzzle

An illness that is definitely not just a mild form of autism. It is definitely milder than autism, but Asperger syndrome is a different condition and it has different (but similar) symptoms. However, despite all the hype and overdiagnosis, very little is actually known about the condition.

The most commonly-known 'symptom' is having trouble in social situations, including problems making eye contact, for example. Sometimes, people with this condition may have poor motor coordination, which may lead to failure in team sports.

Despite popular opinion, people with Asperger syndrome do not have any trouble realizing social situations or people's emotions. They do, however, have a problem in responding accordingly, mainly because of the fear and tension that human contact causes. This fact is demonstrated by experiments that show that people with Asperger syndrome have no problem identifying the proper social behavior when in a controlled laboratory setting with no people around.

This is counter to people with autism, who do indeed have serious problems diagnosing social situations, not just problems responding to them.

Asperger syndrome causes a huge range of problems in life that can manifest or lead to depression, social anxiety disorder, rejection, and even suicide in some cases.

Despite this, Asperger's is no excuse not to try to lead a normal life, as demonstrated by the large number of people who have succeeded at their jobs, at social life, and marriage despite having Asperger's. However, a person with, say, diabetes may live a relatively normal life too. Just because a disease does not force one to live their life on a hospital bed doesn't mean it is not a real illness.

Despite my having Asperger syndrome and all the problems that go along with it, I've managed to live a relatively normal life using self-discipline, a small but nonetheless friendly social circle, and the occasional dose of professional help/advice.

A mild form of autism, that only a selected special few of the population have. The biggest assets of this disorder are often characterized as the biggest curses.

Aspies have a hard time making friends in a world, mainly becuase their high IQ's, literal imagination, and superior adherence to company and school rules and respect for authority.

Tragically since Aspies are essentially just a more moral and intelligent version of NT's their social abnormalities make them "geeky" and "nerdy" and their non-understanding of social cues make them seem like assholes.

Living in a neurotypical world with NT's the majority of who would rather remain ignorant and alienating then seek to understand AS does not help, nor does it help to claim that you have AS to excuse your idiotic and asshole behaviour.

Asperger Syndrome is not the problem in our world. Ignorance is!

Nick has Asperger Syndrome. He may be frank and honest, dress differently than others and obsess about horses and motorcycles, avoid eye contact and appear alone. He likes Spongebob. He is secretlly a genius, who will discover a cure for cancer and create a new language by the year 2050

An illness which can be defined as a mild form of Autism, but this mild form is enough to complicate someone's life entirely. The person suffers from lack of social skills, inability to read body language, use larger vocabulary than someone typical for their age, and have repeated interests and react very tragically to any change. They are often considered by other people their age as being a "weirdo", probably because they refuse to talk to ass-holes that can't accept their difficulty with a medical problem.

"My mother sees my Asperger syndrome as an impairment that has made me psycho. I disagree. I see it as a birth defect that I got while she was smoking meth during her pregnancy with me!"

"Craig Nichols, lead vocalist for The Vines, has Asperger Syndrome. He describes his situation with his family in the song "Spaceship"."

Very similar to high functioning autism. People with Asperger Syndrome(aspies) are interesting to talk to if you happen to have the same special interest as them. They're also very rigid. That means they'll get mad as hell if you sit in their special spot. They also have no creativity. They also think people with HFA are more "disabled". That is true once in a while, but not always.

Aspie: I have Asperger Syndrome.
Person with HFA: I have high functioning autism.
Aspie: I'm more high functioning than you!
Person with HFA: No one cares.

A great way to patronize high school kids that are not part of the "cool clique" or the standards of a socially normal teenager or kid, which means the kid is the star quarterback of the football team or not dating the hot cheerleaders. Usually these people will do very well in the adult world and they will get pretty good paying jobs, but the school system found another reason to add more money to the special ed program to create jobs for people that should be working at McDonalds helping these kids "act cool", which could be learned by a few ass kicking by the popular gang.
Usually kids are labeled with Asperger Syndrome...think typical nerd or dork, paces around, thinks about something besides sex but masturbates and wishes he could get sex, maybe obsessing on something not cool, watches Spongebob (there is something about Asperger Syndrome and Spongebob, or any socially inept kid), using correct English and not street slang, but made even more dorky with a disability. There is a dime of dozen of these kids and that actually adds diversity to high school or middle school. We need kids that are socially inept and can't get the chicks. Propaganda for discrimination and makes the popular group more snotty and the teachers that suck up to the popular group.

Joe discusses Pokemon non-stop and watches Spongebob, but can't get laid with Brittany...he must has Asperger Syndrome.